The science-fiction fantasy adventure "John Carter" opens Friday, a century - plus one month - after Carter's first swashbuckling Mars adventure, "Under the Moons of Mars," began serialization in a fiction magazine in February 1912. It was renamed "A Princess of Mars" for book publication and is still in print.

Directed and co-written by Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton ("Toy Story," "Wall-E"), John Carter begins in Arizona in the late 19th century but soon flashes to Mars, where Carter (Taylor Kitsch of TV's "Friday Night Lights") fights his way through several Martian cities and races - humanoid and otherwise - for the love of his "incomparable" Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), princess of the city-state of Helium.

" 'John Carter' is a big, epic, sci-fi action-adventure with romance and action and political intrigue," director Stanton said in a promotional interview. "An adventure story (that) became a whole genre of its own. It's been either literally ripped off or an inspiration for (other stories) for 100 years."

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Carter was the first creation of one of the most prolific and successful writers of the 20th century, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Burroughs' second hero, created later that same year, was Tarzan. Carter has inspired countless heroes, including Buck Rogers, Superman, the Highlander and Han Solo.

Morally straight and emotionally and mentally uncomplicated, he was a skilled warrior on Earth. On Mars, the lower gravity gives him almost superhuman strength and leaping skill. He is shy and courtly with women but thrills to sword battles that last for hours against 100-to-1 odds.

Carter is a man who never ages. He is teleported to Mars by thought or perhaps sheer will power. (The movie gives him a magical device to help.) He leaves Earth in 1866 and arrives on a Mars that is dying from sort of a million-year global warming but also boasts giant cities and fabulous future inventions.

The 10 novels and two novellas of Burroughs' Carter-Mars series are - despite rather archaic language - nonstop sword-wielding fantasy and pseudo-science fiction invention. They influenced countless authors and films; George Lucas credited Burroughs' for inspiring "Star Wars," and many ideas, names and scenes - such as the arena battle in "Attack of the Clones" - come from the Mars books.

The books, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, make no pretense at literature or logic. The new movie, amazingly, runs true to that form. It is outlandish and absurd without a hint of self-mockery. It does, thank goodness, make Carter sexier and hipper and adds some light humor. Otherwise it is surprisingly faithful to "A Princess of Mars," with bits of the second book, "The Gods of Mars" - plus a blue death ray - folded in.

"I tried to be as faithful as I could because I'm the biggest fan," Stanton said. "We took licenses wherever we felt it needed to happen."

That the movie exists at all is as unlikely as the plot. It couldn't have happened without big Disney bucks - imdb.com reports a $250 million budget - and the fan passion of director Stanton.

"I stumbled across the book at the perfect age," he said. "I was about 10 years old, maybe 11. I fell in love with the concept of a human finding himself on Mars, among these amazing creatures, and finding that he has his own unique powers. One of the cool things I always remembered from the books was that everybody could sail on air."

Though Tarzan has been a screen star since 1918 in more films than James Bond, Carter seemed doomed to remain book-bound. There was an aborted animated attempt in the 1930s - artwork still exists - but it never happened.

A massive Burroughs publishing revival in the 1960s bred a new crop of John Carter fans. Soon after that, the Mars books became a hot movie property almost filmed several times. Disney tried throughout the 1980s and 1990s to get it made. Then Paramount owned the rights for a few years before going back to "Star Trek."

Finally, Disney bought back the rights, and Stanton got involved. He was ready to expand to live action, much like fellow Pixar director Brad Bird, who helmed "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."

Though usually called science fiction, Carter stories were basically action-hero fantasy.

"The view of science and of future technology and fantasy is very reflective of how people understood the world at that time (1912)," Stanton explains. "I think part of the appeal and charm of these books and of these characters is that they are not of our time. Because it's science fiction seen through the eyes of somebody at the turn of the century, there's a cool old-fashioned feel."

On Mars he finds humanlike races of different colors, mostly red, plus some 12-foot-tall green warriors with four arms and great tusks. Oh, and the people lay eggs to bear children. That doesn't stop Carter from marrying and having kids.

Burroughs' science may have been wrong, but his imagination, in the early years, was unbridled. He devised scores of scientifically absurd but wonderfully exciting creations; flying ships (for one person or giant armies), spiderlike creatures who sat atop headless human bodies they controlled with armlike nerves, a giant atmosphere plant that created all the oxygen for Mars, and on and on.

If "John Carter" is a hit and spawns sequels, we are likely to see many of those wild creations brought to life. And it took only 100 years.